The Pope's Message

Representatives of the "Religion of Peace" have responded to Pope Benedict's remarks by threatening to kill him.

As security was beefed up around Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday night, the Mujahideen's Army movement in Iraq threatened to carry out a suicide attack against the Pope in revenge for his comments about Islam and jihad.

On a website used by rebel movements in Iraq, a message posted by the Mujahideen's Army said members of the organization would "smash the crosses in the house of the dog from Rome."

It is becoming increasingly clear that the Pope's remarks were not an inadvertent blunder as was reported in some press accounts, rather they represent a determination on his account to take part in the great confrontation between civilization and madness currently engulfing the Middle East. His message to Christians is that they must reconcile the current controversy between faith and reason. His message to Islam is simple, an apologist explains:

Benedict's quote from the Koran, "There is no compulsion in religion," (Sura 2,256), was offered in the context of a medieval dialogue between a Byzantine emperor and a Persian Muslim.

"The Holy Father chose this text because it contained a 'key sentence' in which the Emperor criticizes the Muslim for Islam's violence as exemplified by the command to spread the faith by the sword," Fr. Samir said.

However, the argument being proffered by the pope was that "anyone who engages in violence ceases being a believer; anyone, Christian or Muslim, who goes along with violence goes against Reason and God, who is the source of Reason...."

...

"only by listening to the Pope's suggestions, and those of a few Muslim intellectuals, can Islam's chances for renewal become real."

"It is high time that Islam deal with modernity; not to be swallowed up by it, but rather to take what good it has to offer and improve on it...."

Good for him!

Read it here.

And, most surprisingly, many Western religious and political leaders are rallying to the Pope's defense. These include, interestingly, Lord Carey, the former Bishop of Canterbury and German Chancellor Angela Merkel [here]. Even the left wing Guardian defended the Pope as being innocent of the charges being leveled against him by Islamic leaders. Not the New York Times, though, they demanded an abject apology from the Pontiff.

UPDATE:

More western leaders are standing up to support the Pope's condemnation of Islamic fanaticism. The Orthodox Archbishop of Athens has denounced violence committed by "fanatical religious followers." [here]

The Anchoress has a lot of commentary and links to more here.